Orioles Claim Adams, Outright De La Cruz

TUESDAY: De La Cruz has cleared waivers and been outrighted to Triple-A, the Orioles announced.

SATURDAY: The Orioles have claimed David Adams from the Indians on outright waivers, MLB.com's Jordan Bastian tweets. The move clears space on the Indians' 40-man roster for infielder Elliot Johnson. The Orioles have announced that, to make room on their roster for Adams, they have designated pitcher Kelvin De La Cruz for assignment. De La Cruz, 25, posted a 2.67 ERA with 11.2 K/9 and 4.7 BB/9 in the high minors of the Dodgers system in 2013. The lefty was out of options.

Adams, 26, hit just .193/.252/.286 in 152 plate appearances with the Yankees in 2013, but more robust .268/.366/.405 in 255 plate appearances at Triple-A Scranton / Wilkes-Barre. The Indians signed him to a big-league deal in December after the Yankees non-tendered him.

Both De La Cruz and Adams were signed to big-league deals this offseason despite a lack of MLB experience (De La Cruz has none). It's a strange coincidence, then, that both would be involved in the same transaction. In January, MLBTR's Tim Dierkes looked at the trend of signing young-ish players with little or no MLB experience to big-league deals.